Predictive Coding: Rise of the Machines?

The most expensive part of the discovery process in litigation is document review. In a case involving millions of documents, armies of law firm associates or contract attorneys must spend weeks (if not months) reviewing documents prior to producing them to the adversary. As one might expect, the cost of such human review can be exorbitant. And even with proper training and the use of experienced attorneys, the rate of error is oftentimes far too high, meaning that nonresponsive documents are produced, responsive documents are not produced, or, worst of all, privileged documents are produced. Simply put, large-scale document reviews are fraught with problems associated with human cost and error.

One potential solution to these problems is predictive coding. Predictive coding can code millions of documents with a minimal amount of human input, and some argue with greater accuracy than human review. As such, it has the potential to save clients significant expense that would otherwise have to be devoted to human review. It is, however, not a perfect solution, and while it is being used more frequently in litigation, it has not yet gained widespread acceptance in the courts.

What is Predictive Coding?